Nurse Loses 112 Pounds after Weight Loss Surgery

Gastric Sleeve Surgery in France

After weighing over 274 pounds for years, Natalie Thompson, a registered nurse, suffered from severe joint pain. Her pain became so unbearable she even went to a rheumatologist to see if she had an autoimmune disease. “My weight problem hit me right in the face during my appointment with the rheumatologist,” said 35-year-old Natalie Thompson.

“I thought she was going to discover that I had some form of arthritis. Instead, the solution was less complicated. She told me that my weight was causing my joint pain and I needed to lose a lot of weight.” And now Natalie’s joint pain is gone after losing 112 pounds in 14 months as a result of her weight loss surgery at Silver Cross Hospital.

The American Society of Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery defines the morbidly obese as those with a body mass of 40 or above, or, for a normal height woman, being more than 100 pounds overweight. Patients with a BMI of 35 and higher, who are suffering the medical consequences of obesity, are often best treated with bariatric surgery as opposed to nonsurgical weight loss. Those who are morbidly obese are at a higher risk of mortality and such extreme obesity puts people at risk for life threatening disease, including heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes.